


Fireside Chats

by thegingermidget



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Cozy, Day Two, M/M, Modern AU, Soft Kylux, bonfire prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8192626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegingermidget/pseuds/thegingermidget
Summary: A few years back, Ben Solo left his family behind and ever looked back. After a few  years apart, he's ready to mend fences. He's made up with his parents and Leia Organa-Solo suggests that Rey invite Ben and his boyfriend Hux on her weekend with friends at their Uncle Luke's cabin in the woods.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Day Two! I'm on a roll! Enjoy :)

They were side by side in Ben's Dad's pickup truck. Ben was driving, despite every instinct Hux had, on the way to his Uncle Luke's cabin that the man had graciously loaned to his niece Rey to host a couple of friends for the weekend.

"Why would anyone go camping in October? It's going to be freezing." asked Hux, indignant that he was being dragged into the woods on a weekend.

"We used to do it when I was little. It's… pretty."

"I can see pretty on a computer monitor. I don't need to make myself miserable with your cousin and her friends in order to see something pretty." He was half joking, but he could tell that Ben was worried Hux was going to hate it.

"It's not going to be that bad. They're not that bad." They were getting close to the cabin's drive way off the main road.

Hux wasn't sure how to answer. "Hey," he wanted Ben to look at him so he waited for them to stop, before a tiny log cabin. "I said I'd come so I'm here. You want to get back in the good graces of your family so I'm here. Camping, the woods, not my typical cup of tea but I'm a big boy and I'll find some way to entertain myself. Okay?"

Ben wanted to kiss him and leaned in close, only to be interrupted by the slam of the cabin's screen door. It was Rey.

"I promise I'll make it worth your while, and all we have to do is survive tonight, tomorrow, and we leave at dawn Sunday morning."

Rey's friend, Finn knocked on the driver's side window and Ben's expression turned murderous.

"We'll get through this." Hux said. "Together."

\-------------------------------

That night the group planned a bonfire, complete with uncomfortable log seating that Ben, Hux, and Poe elected to ignore by sitting on the ground with the logs at their backs, s'mores, and, as the night dragged on, ghost stories.

"Have you guys heard about what's been going on around here lately? I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight." said Finn, reaching for a marshmallow.

"Zombies, I'm betting zombies." whispered Hux into Ben's chest. Even his distaste for present company wasn't enough to prevent him from enjoying his current position, wrapped around Ben Solo in the dark.

"The people who live around here, in the town just down the road," he added, "They've been seeing clowns coming out of these woods."

Hux couldn't stop himself. " _Clowns_?" He asked disbelievingly.

Finn's face was deadly serious. "The police have had several reports of trespassing, robbery, vandalism, all perpetrated by figures in clown costumes, the creepy kind from those Halloween stores. They've caught a couple of them on video cameras. The clowns just kind of stand there… watching. Couple of people have said that their kids were approached by clowns along the highway. They offer them candy if they'll just follow them into the woods. Other people have seen them at night, just off the road as their driving. The drivers slow down to get a better look at them before the clowns start running towards the vehicles."

Poe licked his fingers after finishing a particularly messy s'more. "Alright Finn, that was a good try, but the real thing you've gotta look out for is back at the cabin. Hell, I might even sleep outside tonight if it weren't for the bears."

"There aren't any bears." Hux whispered to Ben, making their blanket around them a little tighter. "A mountain lion, maybe."

"Hush." Ben told him.

"So there was a witch that used to live in the very cabin we're staying in tonight." Poe was a natural storyteller, somehow even managing to use the dim light of the bonfire to illuminate his face sincerely. "She built it about fifty years ago with the help of a demon she had summoned with one of her spells. She was an old woman and there was no way she was going to be able to build a shelter to survive the winter on her own. The demon she summoned was not thrilled with being under the control of this craggy old woman so, he made a deal with her-"

"As demons often do." said Ben, unable to help himself.

"Shhh!" admonished Rey, who was attempting to not feel creeped out, sitting alone on a log.

"So the demon would help her and in exchange, he would get her soul when she died. But, the witch wasn't dumb enough to make that deal. She knew that her magic could extend her life for another few hundred years so, she negotiated the deal so that the demon could only claim her soul in death if she died in the next twenty years. The demon, taking into account the woman's already advanced age, agreed. That demon stalked that house for twenty years and when the time was up, the same date and time they made the bargain, the old witch was gone. She had completely vanished as though she had never existed. That demon still haunts that cabin waiting for her to return."

Poe finished and leaned back on his log. He surveyed Finn and Rey's uncomfortable expressions with smug satisfaction.

"Well, I'd be very interested in meeting that old lady, seems like a barrel of laughs." said Hux sarcastically. Ben elbowed him, but couldn't hide a small smirk in the firelight.

"I'd like to hear you do better." Poe said in good humor.

"Not really his forte." interjected Ben. "Nicely done on those two though, I think Finn wet his pants."

Rey stood. "I think I've had enough for one night. I'm headed to bed."

"I'll join you." said Finn, and the two of them left, looking a little shaken.

"Watch out for demon clowns!" called Hux.

With the two of them gone, Poe was very obviously a third wheel. Hux tried not to stare too pointedly, this had to be a new experience for the man who had a knack for naturally attracting the center of attention.

The man seemed to take the hint in stride. Throwing a stick into the fire and watching the sparks fly up like lightning bugs he said, "I'm gonna call it a night too. Good night guys."

"Night, Poe." said Ben, and Hux could feel the low vibration in Ben's chest when he spoke.

They were left in peace and the sound of incredibly loud orchestra of night noises, from the soprano grasshoppers to the tenor of an owl in the distance.

"So we have to scare them, right? They totally just left that door wide open." He could feel Ben smile at that.

"How do you know they're not planning the exact same thing?"

Hux looked up at him, which took a little bit of contortion from their shared supine position. "Because they are literally the nicest people on the planet. Not to mention the fact that if Rey doesn't hold Finn's hand on the way back to the cabin, I'm not sure he's making it back at all after Poe's spooky ghost story. He's going to lock himself in his room and pray for dawn."

"He wasn't that scared."

"No," Hux conceded. "but I think Rey was. She was just putting a brave face on for her boys."

Ben wrapped his leg around Hux's, sharing his warmth and bringing him closer. The fire was smaller now, just a few dying embers.

"I love you, you know." he said.

"I know."

**Author's Note:**

> Finn's ghost story is absolutely inspired by true events that are happening right now near where I live so it's uniquely terrifying for me and humorous for Hux and Ben.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @keep-on-leggin and talk to me about whether this story should take a darker turn with the meta horror prompt set for tomorrow in the comments below :)


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